Don't leave a five-year-old in charge of a baby.

Even if you are just going to unload groceries from the car. "Help Tristan be happy" could have turned out worse, though, so I really cannot complain.

Gwendolyn's Friend Party

Costume Dance Party!

Children's birthday parties and my sweet husband . . . a sometimes explosive combination. He did very well for this one, though! He must be getting the hang of it, because with four children, our everyday life feels a bit like this.

What I learned with this experience of the joy and anxiety of a pinata: either get a really tough one, or get a couple. The kids at the end of the line will definitely cry if they don't even get a chance to hit the thing. Word to the wise.

Brody is Three

Happy Birthday Brodo Baggins! Some fun things about my third:

1. Loves trains. And helicopters. He seems to be in a constant debate about which he likes more and which he needs more of.

2. Quick temper! My goodness, I pity the inanimate object that crosses him. The other day, I asked why he had to punch the door and then his own head when he ran into the doorknob accidentally and he said, "That makes me feel better."

3. So loving . . . He often grabs me around the neck after I've found something he was looking for or given him a treat after lunch and he says, "You the BEST, Mommy!"

4. A very sweet tooth.

5. He loves to know the rules. Once he knows them, he never breaks them. Rules like not eating outside of the kitchen, saying 'excuse me' if someone does something rude, saying 'sorry' when someone gets hurt . . . he enforces these rules like the chief of police.

6. Dad has been calling him Brodo Baggins to be silly, so now he calls himself Brodo Dragon.

Best Friends Dress Up

Let me introduce you to Sir Jedi Batman. He wears two capes . . . just in case.And here is his crime-fighting partner, Lady Nightgown Mardi gras.
When they cannot find any bad guys, they practice fighting each other.

Cool House of the Day

Find more pictures HERE.

Today's Cool House is Trevanion in Taneytown, Maryland. Dirk found it (he always finds us the coolest places) and sent it to me. Eight acres of loveliness, outbuildings, stables, even an eight-seater brick outhouse original from 1817. I experienced love-at-first sight and began scheming so we could buy it and move in right away (did you not realize we were househunting? Ha! We aren't! We plan to stay in our current house for at least three years, but we cannot seem to help ourselves . . .).

Sadly, even with a price tag of a mere $320k, I cannot figure how we would swing it, as it is currently uninhabitable, chock full of lead paint and dust, roof leaking everywhere, and has no working plumbing, electric, or anything else, really. So, I think we would need about $200k to replace everything that's broken, and it could go well over that. Oh, and did I mention that the purchase price would have to be paid in cash? Financing is not an option when the house is falling apart. Alas, I will have to love it, pure and chaste, from afar. Anyway, here it is:

You see what I mean? A huge 6500 square feet in the main house, it has held up pretty well for 200 years, I'd say. That tower part in the front was added after the house had been around for a few years. I am not sure when, though. There is a staircase that climbs to the top of it with a perfectly charming room up there, which we thought Isaac would like. There are slave quarters right behind the house with a huge fireplace, which I would convert into an outdoor kitchen. Then the outhouse is behind that, with a female side and a male side and four seats on each. Crazy, right? The house is all boarded up now, and locked down tight. Except for one door with a lock box whose code may or may not be really easy to guess for two people with a sense of adventure. We drove out just to see it and walked the property and may or may not have gained access to the inside where I may or may not have fallen even more deeply in love. Woodwork and criss-cross patterned windows and hardwood, oh my. There are a couple of sets of stairs and it is built in the old style, with no hallways, but rooms that just go one to the next. I can close my eyes and imagine Civil War soldiers tromping through with their boots on. Unbelievable. I have a moveable feast, now I have accessed this gem that seems to have been forgotten.

Family Trip to Port Discovery

Isaac and I enjoyed going to this amazing childrens' museum so much with his school, we bought a pass and visited as a family. We will definitely be returning soon! Enjoy these pictures as I play rapid-fire-blog-post-catchup and make up for three months of not posting:They have a VW beetle in the marketplace section that you can fill up at the gas station and explore throughout.

The water play area was an instant hit.

Potty Trained!

Brody is finally done with potty training. Holy cow, he was the hardest one yet. But he did it! And I am grateful and proud. And so relieved. And so glad not to have to buy diapers for him. And so so so glad that I do not have to hold my tongue while cleaning dirty pants and looking heavenward hoping to be delivered from poop forever.